Razer partners with Lenovo for first gaming desktops

Chinese tech maker Lenovo and rapidly branching peripherals company Razer have announced a partnership to bring the first Razer-branded gaming desktops to market, albeit by simply tweaking Lenovo's existing Y Series designs.

Razer has been looking to spread its wings and leave the comfortable gaming peripherals nest for some time. From laptops to fitness trackers, and most recently Razer Music, the company is diversifying at an impressive rate - and following partnerships with case makers the next logical step is, naturally, a gaming PC. Rather than start from scratch, though, the company has joined forces with Chinese PC giant Lenovo to customise some of its Y Series machines.

'This agreement opens opportunities to advance the gaming lifestyle through world-class product in unprecedented ways. Lenovo is the world's number one PC maker. Razer is the world's number one gaming lifestyle brand,' crowed Razer co-founder and chief executive officer Min-Liang Tan at the announcement, helding during the DreamHack Winter 2015 LAN party. 'Together we have the passion, insight and operational capabilities to delight and empower the PC gaming community worldwide.'

'We are thrilled to partner with Razer and bring out the best from both companies to deliver a better, more immersive gaming experience for customers,' added Victor Rios, vice president and general manager for workstation and gaming products at Lenovo. 'While we bring to the table our engineering expertise, design muscle and scale, Razer adds in the finesse and experience of serving the gaming community for the last decade. We believe our partnership is a strong first step that will lead to the delivery of winning PC gaming solutions and a brand new experience to our customers.'

The Razer/Lenovo Y Series machines will, the companies have confirmed, include Razer-specific features such as the company's programmable Chroma lighting system. Neither, however, has detailed specifications - or even whether the internals will differ in any way compared to a stock Lenovo Y Series. The first machines are due to launch early next year, with pricing yet to be confirmed.